The Daphanator arrives

Nov. 23, 2012

Daphne Kirkwood of South Asheville, launched her own race management business, iDaph Events, this year. She will direct the inaugural Asheville Marathon at Biltmore Estate in March. / Katherine Brooks Photography/Special to the Citize

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Daphne Kirkwood of South Asheville just launched her own race management company, iDaph Events. She will direct the inaugural Asheville Marathon at Biltmore Estate in March. / Katherine Brooks Photography/Special to the Citize

Asheville Marathon at Biltmore Estate

The inaugural race starts at 7 a.m. March 3, on the Biltmore Estate to benefit Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The marathon course is run entirely on the Biltmore grounds, starting at Antler Hill Village. The course climbs to the Deerpark Restaurant then descends and climbs along the main road to Biltmore House, pass in front of the main entrance. Runners cross to the west side, past working vineyards before crossing back to finish at Antler Hill Village. Entry fee is $135 through Dec. 31; $145 until Feb. 1; and $155 until Feb. 28. Spectator tickets, which include all-day access to Biltmore House and grounds, are $32 per person. Registration now open at www.imAthlete. com. Visit www.ashevillemarathon.com. For more on iDaph Events, visit http://idaph.net.

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ASHEVILLE — At age 4, Daphne Kirkwood loved to be around her mother’s Mary Kay cosmetics business.

But she was not the little girl smearing on lipstick and eye shadow in sloppy smudges or lathering up in skin lotion. Even as a preschooler, Kirkwood, now a 35-year-old business owner, took the initiative to help her mom sort the makeup products, stick on name tags, clean mirrors, and as she got older, keep client files organized on the computer. All for a fee, of course.

It was an early and eye-opening start to a lifelong passion for organizing, planning and being in charge of her own life and finances, one that led the competitive triathlete and single mom of two to strive for bigger, better and happier, and to start her own business, iDaph Events, a race management business she officially launched this year.

Kirkwood remembers her childhood job with her trademark bubbly laugh. She has stayed the same — someone who doesn’t take no for an answer, doesn’t stop at ‘Go’ — she barely even slows down — doesn’t take shortcuts, and she doesn’t work with grumpy people.

Kirkwood — known in the Twittersphere by her nickname “The Daphanator” — said even though she was ambitious as a toddler, it still took her a while to find her life’s dream work. But she stayed on course, throwing herself full force into whatever she found exciting and interesting, which eventually led to iDaph Events.

“I have that internal drive in me to give my best at all times and to be successful and live my life to the fullest and enjoy my time here on Earth. It’s so short,” Kirkwood said without taking a breath. “I want to make sure I’m doing every day what I can to be a better person.”

About nine years ago, after the birth of her second child, Knowle, Kirkwood started running. It took a passionate hold, and she started entering local 5K races, then began volunteering at races, including the Biltmore/Kiwanis Classic 5K/15K, held on the Biltmore Estate in spring. Learning the ropes from the ground up led to her own company and a recent coup in the race-directing world — spearheading the inaugural Asheville Marathon in March, the first marathon to take place on the Biltmore Estate.

“Daphne had helped at races on the estate in the past,” said Tony Seker, race chair with the Asheville Kiwanis Club.

“We talked to her about directing it this year, and she told us all the plans she had. We were so impressed. To do the job of a race director is a heck of a job,” Seker said. “I thought, ‘Can she do all this?’ Well, she can. She’s a sharp gal, she knows how to put things in place and who to talk to. The way she did things, it’s amazing. She knows how to get things done.”

That’s the general impression of anyone who comes into Kirkwood’s whirling vortex of wild blond curls, high-octane energy and enthusiasm and big smile that never leaves her lips.

Kirkwood credits her parents, Kathleen and Don Kirkwood, who live in Hendersonville, for blessing her with Energizer Bunny genes and leading by example with a relentless work ethic and, strangely, their gypsy-type lifestyle. Daphne can’t even count how many places the family, including older brother, Donnie, and younger brother, Jeremy, lived during her childhood.

“She learned to adapt to different people and situations, and it helped her to be more outgoing,” said Kathleen Kirkwood, a cosmetics sales manager. “She’s just like me. She’s been brought up since she was 4 years old in a household where I work for Mary Kay and I worked very hard and became very successful in the business.”

Kathleen said her daughter was invaluable as a child, helping with her home-based business.

“She wanted to help. I would pay her. She always loved to organize and get things into their place. She’s always had good common sense and is able to problem solve. But it became pretty clear early on that teaching of skin care and colors was not her thing.”

But planning, organizing and being her own boss — things Daphne picked up from watching her mom rack up pink Cadillacs — were her thing.

Traveling lifestyle

Kirkwood was born in DuBois, Pa., but didn’t stay there long. Her parents moved the family from Hershey, Pa., where they worked at the Milton Hershey School for boys displaced from their homes, to Harrisburg, then to Wisconsin, then Florida, then Georgia, among other places. When Daphne was in ninth grade, the Kirkwoods moved to Hendersonville, and home finally stuck.

“The awesome thing about moving so much is it taught me how to mold into any situation and make friends anywhere I went,” Kirkwood said. “It pushed me outside my comfort zone and ultimately made me who I am. I’m superhappy about that.”

Kirkwood attended the now-closed Faith Christian High School, and throughout, worked after school and weekends as a hostess at the Etowah Country Club.

She attended Brevard College for a year, UNC Asheville for a year, then took time off because she couldn’t figure out exactly what she wanted to do, and didn’t want to be wasting time and money on academics without direction.

During her searching phase, Kirkwood married and had daughter Chloe, now 11, and son Knowle, 9.

When she was pregnant with her daughter, she found an online program through Eastern Oregon University, earning a bachelor’s degree in leadership and management.

“I knew I could do the math part, the people part, the organization, that’s me,” she said.

Learning the running ropes

While searching for what type of business she wanted to start, she worked in human resources at the Biltmore Estate. And, she kept getting more passionate about running. After each 5K, she wanted to do better and started winning them.

She joined the Asheville Track Club, then became the secretary of the board, then joined the Asheville Triathlon Club and then started a running club for employees at Biltmore to improve their wellness, and started a running club for women at the YMCA, where she worked out.

“I had so much enthusiasm. I wanted everyone to become a runner,” Kirkwood said. “I just loved being around people. I loved the whole race experience. Every time I did one, I liked giving feedback on what would make it better. I thought it would be good to go into race management.”

She learned everything about putting on a race by volunteering her time with all aspects of the 5K event, from planning to marketing to T-shirt design to registration and traffic control.

“I’m a firm believer in starting at the bottom and working your way up,” she said.

Kirkwood eventually left Biltmore and went to work for Fast Pivot, an e-commerce business in Asheville, again in an HR, planning, organizing role. But she also continued to race, transitioning into triathlon after running injuries, and competes in regional races for Hearn’s Cycling.

And she kept her hand in learning the racing business. Her first paid position in race management was for the Biltmore/Kiwanis Classic, taking on the marketing and registration aspects.

She continued to build her race organizing skills by racing herself — she just competed in a Half Ironman triathlon this fall — and taking project management classes and even went to a life coach.

“I told her I couldn’t figure out what my dream was. All these people around me have these dreams, but I lost sight of my dream. Through talking to her, I learned my dream was to have my own business. It was being overshadowed because I had so much responsibility,” said Kirkwood, who had gotten divorced and was raising two children while working full time.

“There was the side of me that says, ‘That’s not realistic,’ that negative self-talk that holds you back from doing the things you want to do. Leta (the life coach) helped me to home in on the things that I dreamed of.”

Kirkwood kept volunteering for club boards and races, and the hard work and name recognition in the racing community led to good luck. Two years ago, organizers of Dig the Du approached Kirkwood about putting on a duathlon (a run-bike-run race), in Hendersonville. Kirkwood sprang into action and planned the entire event, getting nearly 200 participants in its first year.

“After that experience, I decided I can do anything. All my doubts were gone,” she said. “Just to be able to create something where there wasn’t even a course was really empowering. I realized with Dig the Du, if I’m doing this for someone else, I want to create the kind of things I want to do. Leta gave me the permission to dream and be creative again.”

I, Daphne

When Kirkwood realized race management was her dream, she brainstormed with colleagues at Fast Pivot and came up with the name for her business that says it all: iDaph Events. With a roster of more than half a dozen events, from Dig the Du, to the Asheville Triathlon to the inaugural Asheville Marathon at Biltmore, iDaph was born earlier this year.

“It’s naturally who I am. There’s not a class you can take. When you are doing what you love and you are in your natural element, it’s who you are,” she said. “I said, ‘OK, what are the events I want to see in this area to foster growth in youth development?’ I started the Lung Buster Time Trial series (a biking event) because we need more biking events here, and I knew there was a need for more multisport events in area, since it’s really booming. And I wanted to see a marathon, so I approached the Biltmore about it and they said to put together a proposal. Fortunately they liked my idea and let me run with it.”

So far, while some of her events, such as the Time Trial series, and trying to find footing, others are selling out or have been well attended. The Asheville Marathon, which is a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, has a cap of 1,300 runners and four months before the race, is at nearly 900.

Jonathan Poston, a business professor at Warren Wilson College who worked with Kirkwood for several years at Fast Pivot, has no doubt iDaph will thrive.

“It’s rare to see someone so energized about producing a dynamite event, whether it’s running, biking, swimming or who knows what she’ll do next,” he said.

“Her standards of excellence go far beyond offering carefully choreographed gatherings. The only events I’ve seen her take on have an element of distinction that makes them so much different than anything out there, and that’s something we desperately need in a city like Asheville, where once high-demand endurance races are now as plentiful as the orange tree groves in Florida. I’ve told everyone I know that this woman is a rising star.”

Former Asheville Track Club president Kelly Allen, who met Kirkwood several years ago at the downtown Y running group, credits Kirkwood with getting her back into running after taking a break to have a baby, and pushing her to join the track club.

“Daphne is extremely fantastic at getting people committed to working together in a highly effective way. She can motivate other people to do their job,” said Allen, an Asheville real estate agent who is also an elite runner.

“When she was hired to do the Biltmore Kiwanis, I knew she would knock it out of park. She’s so highly organized but is so personable and friendly. She’s very driven to do a great job and she’s passionate about athletes. I’m super excited for her.”

Planning for future

Kirkwood has so many ideas for the Asheville racing scene, she can barely keep them all to herself. Some she will talk about are plans for a children’s multisport series in 2013, and more cycling events. Right now, as a one-woman show with a part-time assistant, trying to spend as much time with her children as possible, and still working for Fast Pivot, Kirkwood wants to grow iDaph Events at a smart pace.

“I’m being really particular and choosy with the events I run,” she said. “I want to produce really high quality events. I want things that are going to be unique, that I can put a special touch on, and work with people I want to work with, people who aren’t grumpy.”

She contracts out for the work she doesn’t have time to do herself but can see the business growing and hiring more employees in the near future (only happy people need apply). But she stresses the fact that she can’t do her job without a wide network.

All her efforts are now aimed at throwing the best marathon weekend in Asheville history. The 26.2-mile race will be on a Sunday morning — spectators must purchase a ticket and volunteers to help with water stations are encouraged with an expo on the Saturday open to the public.

Kirkwood has worked on making everything “unique and perfect,” from holding a contest among water stations for the most enthusiastic, to the race training plan. She has partnered with Danny Dreyer and his Asheville-based Chi Running to offer an Asheville Marathon-specific training program based on the course’s elevation changes and terrain, which include passing the Biltmore House entrance and a winding tour through the estate’s vineyards. The plan is available online for the many out of town racers expected.

“This is the first real big deal here,” Kirkwood said of the marathon. (The inaugural Asheville Citizen-Times City Marathon is planned for September 2013).

“I feel giddy inside. It’s so cool to see that other people are as excited about it as I am. Everything is custom designed by a runner, for the runner but it will have a small field, so you won’t get trampled. Everything will be well done. They’re going to get a lot of TLC. I’m so excited for runners to be able to take part in this event — it’s going to be historic, and it’s going to be so pretty.”

Kathleen Kirkwood, who is still going strong with Mary Kay, said she doesn’t feel badly that her daughter didn’t want to follow her into makeup and skin care.

“Starting iDaph was just so perfect,” Kathleen Kirkwood said. “She just found a niche that went along with her gifts and her talents and her energy. She’s just thriving because she found something that suits. It’s just great when you find something that you would do for free.”